Semi-annual Social Safeguards Monitoring Report (January- June 2020)

Geo: Secondary Road Improvement Project

Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan (LARP) for Dzirula – Kharagauli – Moliti (Section 1) Km 0.000 to Km 24.620

Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan (LARP) for Section 2 (Moliti-Chumateleti) Km 24.620 to Km 50.244

Project Number-: 46375-002 Loan Number: 3524-GEO

Prepared: October 2020

Prepared by Construction Supervision Consultant for the Road Department of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure and the Asian Development Bank.

This social monitoring report is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB's Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature.

In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Abbreviations

ADB Asian Development Bank AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AIIB Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank AP Affected Person AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome CR Compliance Report CSC Construction Supervision Consultant DP Displaced Person EBRD European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EMC External Monitoring Consultant ETCIC Eurasian Transport Corridor Investment Center GEL Georgian Lari GoG Government of Georgia HH Households HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus IA Implementing Agency IFC International Finance Corporation IP Indigenous People IR Involuntary Resettlement LARF Land Acquisition and Resettlement Framework LARP Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan LE Legal Entity MFF Multi-tranche Financing Facility RDMRDI Ministry of Regional Development Infrastructure RD Roads Department NGOs Non-Government Organizations PAM Project Administration Manual PCP Public Communication Policy PPE Personal Protection Equipment

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Glossary Compensation: Payment made in cash or kind to the project affected persons/households at replacement cost of the assets acquired for the project, which includes the compensation provided under the Land Code of the Republic of Georgia (GE Rules for Expropriation of Ownership for Necessary Public Need July 23, 1999, Civil Procedural Code of Georgia, November 14, 1997, Public Register (No 820-IIs; December 19, 2008, Recognition of Property Ownership and other subsequent rules that refers stipulated in the Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan (LARP). Cut off Dates: These are the dates on which censuses of the project affected persons and their assets to be affected are commenced in a particular area. Assets like houses/ structures and others which are created after the cut-off dates, and the persons or groups claiming to be affected, become in eligible for compensation and assistance. Displaced Person (DP): Any person who has to involuntarily change his/her place of residence and/or workplace or place of business/livelihood from the current location as result of the project. This may include moving out from his/her land or building. Encroacher: A person who has extended his property into public land; a person who has trespassed on government land, adjacent to his/her own land or asset, to which he/she is not entitled, and derives his/her livelihood or extended his/her property prior to the cutoff date. Entitlement: Refers to mitigation measures, which includes cash payments at replacement cost or through replacement land equal in value/ productivity to the plot lost and at location acceptable to APs where feasible as stipulated in the LARP. Entitlements include compensation for structure (permanent & temporary), crops, trees, business, wage, etc., for which compensation is already paid. Household: A household is a group of persons who commonly live together with common in comes and take their meals from a common kitchen. Income Restoration: Refer store-building the capacity of the project affected household store- establish income sources at least to restore their living standards to the pre-acquisition levels. Indigenous Peoples: Indigenous Peoples are those who are identified in particular geographic areas based on these four characteristics: (i) self-identification as members of a distinct indigenous cultural group and recognition of this identity by others; (ii) collective attachment to geographically distinct habitats or ancestral territories in the project area and to the natural resources in these habitats and territories; (iii) customary cultural, economic, social, or political institutions that are separate from those of the dominant society and culture; and (iv) an indigenous language, often different from the official language of the country or region. Involuntary Resettlement: The unavoidable displacement of people and/or impact on their livelihood, assets, and common property resulting from development projects that create the need for rebuilding their livelihoods, sources of income, and asset bases. Legal Entity: Legally registered enterprise established by two or several individuals or companies vested with its separate property, rights, and liability such as a limited liability partnership (LLP), and joint stock company (JSC). Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

NGO: Non-Government Organizations (NGO) are private voluntary organizations registered with Georgian Government. There are number NGOs working in Georgia performing activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development, etc. Participation/Consultation: Defined as a continuous two-way communication process consisting of: ‘feed-forward’ the information on the project’s goals, objectives, scope and social impact implications to the project beneficiaries, and their ‘feed-back’ on these issues (and more) to the policy makers and project designers. In addition to seeking feedback on projects specific issues, the participatory planning approach also serves these objectives in all development projects: public relations, information dissemination and conflict resolution. Physical Cultural Resources: Defined as movable or immovable objects, sites, structures, groups of structures, and natural features and landscapes that have archaeological, paleontological, historical, architectural, religious, aesthetic, or other cultural significance. Physical cultural resources may be located in urban or rural settings, and may be above or below ground, or underwater. Physical cultural resources are important as sources of valuable scientific and historical information, as assets for economic and social development, and as integral parts of a people’s cultural identity and practices. Their cultural interest may be at the local, provincial or national level, or within the international community. Project-Affected Person/Household/Legal Entities: Persons/households/Legal Entities whose livelihood and living standards are adversely affected by acquisition of lands, houses, and other assets, loss of income sources and the like, due to undertaking of the project. Rehabilitation: Refers to improving the living standards or at least re-establishing the previous living standards, which may include re-building the income earning capacity, physical relocation, rebuilding the social support and economic networks. Relocation: Moving the project-affected households/Legal Entities to new locations and providing them with housing, water supply and sanitation facilities, lands, schools, and others social and healthcare infrastructure, depending on locations and scale of relocation. Replacement Cost: The Asian Development Bank’s Safeguard Policy Statement (SPS) 2009 describes “replacement cost” as the method valuation of assets that helps determine the amounts insufficient replace lost assets and cover transaction costs. In applying this method valuation, depreciation of structures and assets is not taken into account. For losses that cannot easily be valued or compensated for in monetary terms (e.g. access to public services, customers, and suppliers; or to fishing, grazing, or forest areas), attempt share made to establish access to equivalent and culturally acceptable resources and earning opportunities. Where domestic law does not meet the standard of compensation at full replacement cost, compensation under domestic law is supplemented by additional measures necessary to meet the placement cost standard. Land Acquisition & Resettlement Plan (LARP): A time-bound action plan with a budget, setting out resettlement policy, strategy, objectives, options, entitlements, actions, approvals, responsibilities, monitoring, and evaluation.

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Severely Affected Households: As per SPS 2009 households/ entities losing more than 10% of his/her income/productive assets called severely affected. Squatter: Household or person occupying public lands without legal arrangements with the Government of Georgia or any of its concerned agencies is a squatter to the lands. Stakeholder: Refers to recognizable persons, and formal and informal groups who have direct and indirect stakes in the project, such as affected persons/households, shop owners, traders in roadside markets, squatters, community-based and civil society organizations. State Land: State lands are public lands those are not recorded in the name of any private citizen/entity of the country. Local & Regional Governments of respective region is the custodian of all state lands within their jurisdiction. Vulnerable Household: Households with an average per capita income below poverty line are considered vulnerable and are entitled to get the vulnerability allowance. It includes very poor, women headed household, old aged and handicapped.

Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION 7 1.1 Objective of the Report 7 1.2 Background Information 7 1.3 Objective and Coverage of the Monitoring 9 1.4 Methodology Followed under Monitoring Program 9 1.5 Social Safeguard/Resettlement Categorization 9 2 OVERVIEWS OF THE LARPS AND ASSOCIATED IMPACTS 10 2.1 LARPs and Allied Documents Preparation 10 2.2 Conditions for Project Implementation 11 2.3 Project Policy and Entitlement Matrix. 12 2.4 Consultation Participation & Grievance Redress Mechanism: 12 2.5 Cost and Financing 12 3 LARP IMPLEMENTATION STATUS 13 4 GRIEVANCE REDRESS MECHANISM (GRM) & GRIEVANCE REDRESS STATUS 13 4.1 Formation of Grievance Redress Committee (GRC) 14 4.2 Formation of Grievance Redress Committee 14 4.3 4.3. Issues Identified during Construction at Project Area 17 5 MAINTAINING CORE LABOR STANDARD 18 5.1 OTHER COMPLIANCE ISSUES 18 5.2 Child Labor in the Project Activities 19 5.3 Forced or Compulsory Labor 19 5.4 Discrimination in Respect to Employment 19 5.5 Health and Safety and HIV/AIDS Awareness Program 19 5.6 Accident Record Log 20 6 SAFEGUARDS COMPLIANCE STATUS 20 6.1 Status of Recruitment/Mobilization of Safeguard Team 20 6.2 Project Social Safeguard Performance 20 6.3 6.3 Design changes and associated LAR issues 21 7 CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS

ANNEX1. PHOTORECORD OF MEETIGNS AND CONSULTATIONS WITH THE LOCAL RESIDENTS ANNEX 2. LIST OF PROBLEMATIC CASES IN CR 3 (RAILWAY PROBLEMATIC ISSUES)

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Objective of the Report

1. This semi-annual social safeguards monitoring report for the secondary Road improvement project in Georgia covers the period from January to June 2020. The objective of the report is to provide an overview of the progress made in the implementation of the land acquisition and resettlement (LAR) tasks in the first half of 2020. It provides information on social safeguards activities related to the preparation and implementation of the land acquisition and resettlement plan (LARP) as well as other raised safeguards issues. It describes the project’s performance in dealing with community consultation and stakeholders’ participation, impacted assets registration/records and compensation processes, and grievances received and redressed. Lessons learned and the recommendations for the implementation of safeguards component of the project in the next stage of the program are summarized at the end of the report.

1.2 Background Information

2. Georgia, due to its geographic location, provides the shortest transit link between Central Asia and Europe. Transport plays a pivotal role in supporting the national economy, and development of the transport infrastructure is vital to increasing economy of the region through reduced transport costs and increased transit revenue. 3. The project road is a 50.404-km west to east secondary road, starting from E60 in Dzirula and ending at E60 junction at Chumateleti. Most of the project road is within Imereti Region with a few kilometers within Shida-Kartli Region. It is envisioned that this road, when improved, will enhance connectivity to a number of towns and villages at the foothills of the mountain ranges and can act as alternate route to parallel segments along E-60. 4. For implementation purposes the project was divided into 2 separate sections of about 25 km each. First section (Construction Contractor, Black Sea Group”) covers the eastern ~ 25 km section of the above road from Moliti (km 24+620) to Chumateleti (km 50+244) and the second road section (Section-2) covers the eastern region comprising 26.4 km of road length from Moliti to Chumateleti. 5. The details of the proposed road project are: • Rehabilitate and pave the project road from Dzirula to Moliti according to Georgian National Standard for Public Motor Roads (SST Gzebi 2009), Geometrical and Structural Requirements with 40 km/h design speed. The pavement within Kharagauli town may remain as is since this is still in fair to good pavement condition. • Replace or repair of 9 bridges, • Construction of 96 pipe culverts and 10 box culverts. • Construction of side drains and other drainage structures.Provision of retaining walls and river protection measures, where necessary. • Provision of adequate road signing and Marking.Provision of safety barriers such as guardrail 6. In most parts, the road runs along the Dzirula River and crossing the river from south bank to the north bank at around km 21+700 before the Marelisi Station. The study road section starts at Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project the west end with an elevation of around 210m reaching to about 430m at about km 24+600. From west to east the road traverses primarily rural and agricultural setting, with the main urban town of Kharagauli between km10 and km13. 7.The project will improve the national connectivity and reliability of the transport network by serving as an alternative route to the highway E60 and the railway. Secondly, it will improve the mobility of the municipality’s population. The Kharagauli area has been identified by the Government of Georgia as a region that has been isolated due to the poor transport connections. The road can no longer fully and efficiently function either as a local road or a strategic alternative for long distance transit traffic. 8. The project will directly benefit people living in the Municipality of Kharagauli (the largest town in the project area) and people from the villages that the road connects. The population currently suffers from the severe lack of employment opportunities. The project will serve the need of the population for new employment opportunities, in both existing and new areas of economic activity. In addition, the project will secure basic access to essential facilities and services. Currently the population is severely underserved in terms of access to medical facilities and schools. The poor condition of the road means that for the majority of villages in the region, ambulance services require more than 3 hours to reach the patient, and a further 3 hours to arrive at the hospital. School children walk upwards of 4km to get to school. There will be both short term and long term positive impacts of the Project. The short term positive impacts include access to markets for agricultural produce, availability of temporary unskilled jobs for villagers; and opportunity to provide food and restaurant services for construction workers. On the other hand, the long term positive impacts include, access to long distance transport services across the border; access to long distance markets (buying and selling through regional trade); easier access to health facilities and medical treatment; increased access to agricultural extension services, increased access to education; increased opportunity for the development of tourism; and diversification of income sources.

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

1.3 Objective and Coverage of the Monitoring

9.The major objective of this SMR is to analyze the implementation status of the LARPs and other associated social safeguards issues includes handing over the road’s Right of Way (RoW) to start construction of the road. 10.Verify status of resettlement implementation for the project that complies with the approved LARPs; a. verify status of up to date compensation payment to APs; b. verify implication of grievance redress mechanism to solve AP ‘s grievances & status of grievances received from the APs/local people so far; c. satisfaction of APs with the process of their compensation & amount of compensated; and d. Other social safeguards issues such as: wage laborers, labor issues, HIV/AIDS, grievances/complains received during construction/resolved etc.

1.4 Methodology Followed under Monitoring Program

11.The monitoring has been conducted mostly relay on the project documents LARPS, CR, monthly & quarterly reports etc. through review & analyze, compilation of necessary data from aforesaid documents. In addition, consultant also had conducted consultations/meetings among the APs and other project stakeholders of the project through regular site visits. Such consultations & meeting conducted with & assistance of the CSC, Contractors, EMC, RD, PIU of MRDI and relevant other project stakeholders. The findings from the aforesaid consultations/meetings has been incorporated in this Semi-Annual SMR document in a cumulative manner. 12. The main objective of implementation of the LARPs for Secondary Road is to improve or at least restore the social and livelihood resources of the APs at their pre-project level. The process of implementation should ensure that this objective is achieved over a reasonable time with allocated resources. Therefore, monitoring of the process of updating Secondary Road LARPs, its implementation and delivery of institutional and financial assistance to the APs has been designed as an integral part of the overall functioning and management of the Project. RU of RDMRDI will ensure the execution of timely monitoring of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) indicators (process, delivery and impact indicators) of LAR tasks. The purpose of the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is to provide feedback to all stakeholders on progress made in view of a timely and comprehensive implementation of the LARP and to identify problems as early as possible to facilitate timely adjustment of implementation arrangements. The objectives are to: (i) ensure that the standard of living of APs are restored or improved; (ii) ascertain whether activities are in progress as per schedule and the timelines are being met; (iii) assess whether the compensation, rehabilitation measures are sufficient; (iv) identify problems or potential issues; and (v) identify methods to rapidly mitigation of problems. Social Safeguard/Resettlement Categorization Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

13. Prior to civil works implementation, the projects selected for construction or development to be Screened and Classified using ADB's classification system as follows: ➢ Category A: Projects proposed for construction or development, will fall under this category, if, it caused a significant involuntary resettlement impacts with a physical displacement of 200 or more persons from their residences, or 200 or more persons lose 10% or more of their productive or income generating assets, or more persons or 200 or more persons experience a combination of both ➢ Category B: Any proposed subproject that includes involuntary resettlement impacts but are not deemed significant considering loss of shelter/houses or productive or income generating assets will be considered for category B. ➢ Category C: A proposed subproject that has no involuntary resettlement impact. 14. The project is classified category B for involuntary resettlement as per ADB Safeguard Policy Statement (SPS), 2009.

2 OVERVIEWS OF THE LARPS AND ASSOCIATED IMPACTS

2.1 LARPs and Allied Documents Preparation

15. LARP prepared by MRDI, during feasibility stage was further updated/finalized in November 2017 and in May 2018 based on the feasibility study and prepared two implementations ready LARPs fulfilling requirements of ADB’s SPS 2009. These two LARPs were prepared dividing the total 50.404-km west to east secondary road. • LARP-1 for Section 1 covering Km 0.000 to Km 24.620 • LARP-2 for Section 2 covering Km 24.620 to Km 50.244 16. These updated LARPs1 were approved by ADB in November 2017 and in May 2018. These LARPs are currently under implementation. This has been followed by preparation of LARP compliance monitoring reports (CR) by an External Monitoring Consultant (EMC), deployed by the RD, MRDI to comply the project policy. Till the reporting period, EMC prepared three (3) CRs covering totally 41.52km of road, of which 24.64km from Section 1 and 16.88km from Section 2 (details given in table 2.1 below).

Table 2.1 Summary of handed over sections Compliance Covered section Length, km Handover Reports status/date (CR) CR1 LARP Section 1 (km 0.00 to km 10.680 Total 18.98 km. July, 2018 and km 16.340 to km 24.640)

1 https://www.adb.org/projects/documents/geo-46375-002-rp-0; https://www.adb.org/projects/documents/geo-secondary-road-improvement-dzirula-kharagauli-moliti-pona- chumateleti-may-2015-rp 10

Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Compliance Covered section Length, km Handover Reports status/date (CR)

CR2 LARP Section 2 (km 24.62 to km 28.45; Total 16.88 km. March 24,2019 km 29.90 to km 36.58; km 40.16 to km 43.40 (3.24 km) and km 44.74 to km 47.87) CR3 LARP Section 1 (km 10.680 to 16.340) Total 5.66 km. April 24,2020

17.The main objective of the EMC deployment was to verify whether LARP have been implemented in compliances with the policy adopted in the LARP and compensation payment status. Accordingly, CR prepared for the LARP, reflecting the results of monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of land acquisition and resettlement (LAR) activities of the road project in accordance and compliance with the LARP. The physical construction activities of the Secondary road I Section started in September 2018 after signing contract between RD and the contractor (Black Sea Group Ltd) on 4 December 2017 and Secondary road II Section started on May 30, 2019 after signing contract between RD and the contractor (Akkord Industry Construction Investment Corporation OJSC) on 4 December 2018 with subsequent approvals of all the CRs in due course by ADB & RDMRDI. On the other hand the CSC has mobilized and started their activities. The responsibility of the CSC Social Specialists is to monitor the LARP related & other social safeguards issues covering the total project implementation periods on behalf of the RDMRDI and to produce monitoring reports periodically for the RDMRDI to submit to ADB in addition to monthly & quarterly reports, as well. 18. Following approval of LARPs, finances will be provided to the EA. Prior to the distribution of LARP finances to the APs, legalization of APs lands according to the active legislation will be finalized and all APs may sign a contract agreement indicating that they accept the compensation proposed to them. If an AP does not sign the contract the case will be passed to the appropriate court to initiate expropriation proceedings. This will be done after the compensation amount, determined according to the valuation methodology outlined in this LARP- is deposited in escrow account. Escrow accounts will also be established for absentee APs. 19. No land plots covered under the CR1 went through the expropriation procedures, as for CR2 - 3 land plots were expropriated during the reporting period. 2.2 Conditions for Project Implementation

20.Based on ADB policy/practice, the approval of project implementation will be based on the following LAR-related conditions: c ➢ Signing of Contract Award: Civil works contract will be awarded after approval of final Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan. ➢ Notice to Proceed to Contractors for any sub-section: Conditional to the full implementation of secondary Road Improvement Project LARP (legalization of legalizable Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

owners, and full delivery of compensation and rehabilitation allowances), verified by a compliance report submitted by the External Monitor, for the sub-section in question.

2.3 Project Policy and Entitlement Matrix

21. ADB is the funding agency and RDMRDI is the Implementing Agency (IA) of the Project. RDMRDI has the lead responsibility for road construction, as well as implementation of this LARP through the Resettlement Unit (RU) under the Resettlement and Environmental Protection Division, RDMRDI. A Land Acquisition and Resettlement (LAR) Commission (LARC) assisted RU in all LAR activities. In addition, LAR Team assisted RU in the rayon level involving also the local self-government bodies. In addition, a number of other government departments played an instrumental role in the updating and implementation of secondary Road Improvement Project LARP. The National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) within the Ministry of Justice is assisting the Project through registration of land ownership and its transfer through acquisition agreement from landowners to the RDMRDI. The local government at Rayon and village level is also involved. Among them: Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (MOESD), Ministry of Economy and Finances of Adjara Autonomous Republic, Road Department of Adjara, local governments of municipalities, specialists of territorial organs. Consultation Participation & Grievance Redress Mechanism 22. Consultation with likely APs in the project affected areas was conducted during the feasibility study of the Project. At the preparation of secondary Road improvement Project LARP in detail design stage, all likely APs (available on site) were consulted through community level meetings and through individual contact at the time of census, socioeconomic survey and detail measurement survey. The consultations continued/will be continued throughout the remaining implementation period.

2.4 Cost and Financing

23. The land acquisition and resettlement cost estimate under the LARPs includes eligible compensation, resettlement allowances and support cost for implementation of corresponding LAR tasks. The support cost, which includes administrative expense, is part of the overall project cost. Contingency provisions (10% of the total cost) have also been included to take into account variations from this estimate at the negotiation for contract agreement level. In case of any over- run-in cost, RDMRDI will provide additional funds as needed in a timely manner. RDMRDI through the approval of Ministry of Finance will be responsible for allocating the LAR Budget in advance as part of their overall annual budget planning. Items of LAR cost estimate under the LARPs are as follows: (i) Compensation for agricultural, pasture, and commercial land at replacement value (ii) Compensation for structures and buildings at their replacement cost (iii) Compensation for business/employment loss (iv) Compensation for crops and trees (v) Assistance for severely affected AHs

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

(vi) Assistance for vulnerable groups for their livelihood restoration (vii) Cost for implementation of LARP. 24. Please, provide summary info on already used amiunt per 2 LARPs so far- it has to be known at least from the CRs, specify if there will be a need for the additional budget allocation.

3 LARP IMPLEMENTATION STATUS

25. Implementation status of the LARP is fully completed for the section 1. The LARP implementation is ongoing for the section 2, which is covered by CR2. 26. It is important to note that at this stage of project implementation, RDMRDI, the IA made compensation payment to the APs for their lost properties only for the sections cleared to make encumbrance free for handing over to start construction activities by the contractor. To comply with ADB policy, EMC also conducted compliance monitoring exercise with required report preparation, which was subsequently approved by ADB for those sections, completed LARPs implementation and compensation payment as well. As on 31 June 2020 the Contractor has access to the following section of the construction site: ➢ Section 1 Km0+000-Km24+620 ➢ Section2 Km24+620-Km28+800; Km29+900-Km36+580; Km40+160-Km43+360; Km44+740- Km48+120(17.44) ➢ Section 1 Km10+680-Km 16.340 27. As documented by the Compliance Report N3 all land and other impacts of the Dzirula- Kharagauli-Moliti-Pona-Chumateleti Project for the road sections between km 10+680 and 16+340 have been fully compensated in accordance with the approved LARP Section 1 and its Updated Compensation Matrix. See annex 2 for details.

28. The letter of no objection is received from ADB on 24-th of April in 2020, therefore the RD provided the CW Contractor with detailed instructions and the map attached.

4 GRIEVANCE REDRESS MECHANISM (GRM) & GRIEVANCE REDRESS STATUS

29.A grievance redress mechanism (GRM) is established during consultations to allow affected persons appealing any disagreeable decision during the implementation, practice or activity arising from land or other assets compensation. The broad structure, procedure and function of GRM were discussed during the consultations meetings. In the course of public consultation meetings the APs were informed of their rights and the procedures for addressing complaints whether verbally or in writing. Grievance Redress Committees (GRCEs) was established before the start of LARP implementation at Municipality level and includes representatives of the mayor, of the village governments and of the APs (including a woman AP). Complaints resolution will be first attempted at Municipality level GRCE. If any aggrieved AP is unsatisfied with the GRCE decision at Municipality level, the complaint will be raised to the Resettlement Division of RDMRDI within 2 weeks after receiving the decision from GRCN. The grievance mechanism should not impede access to the country’s judicial or administrative remedies. Affected Persons can Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project approach the court of law at any time and independent of grievance redress process. Details are provided in next paras. 4.1 Formation of Grievance Redress Committee (GRC)

30. ADB procedures require Roads Department to establish a project specific Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) having suitable grievance redress procedure to receive and facilitate resolution of affected peoples’ concerns, complaints, and grievances. A grievance mechanism has been developed at municipality level (Kharagauli and Khashuri municipality) with member from affected villages, roads department and the Mayor of the municipality and at the head quarter of Roads Department to allow affected persons appealing any disagreeable decision, practice or activity arising from land or other assets compensation. The impact of the project on land acquisition is not significant and the municipality head quarter is not far from affected villages. Some of the villages have very less impact in terms of number of affected persons. Therefore, Grievance Redress Committee (GRCE) is proposed at the municipality level which is at local level/project level. There is a Grievance Redress Commission (GRCN) at the corporate level in the Roads Department. APs have been informed of their rights and of the procedures for addressing complaints whether verbally or in writing during consultation and dissemination. Care will always be taken to prevent grievances rather than going through a redress process. The grievance mechanism should not impede access to the country’s judicial or administrative remedies. APs can approach the court of law at any time and independent of grievance redress process. The broad Grievance Redress Mechanism and its structures and functions have been discussed and briefed during the consultations meetings at each villages held during the preparation of final LARP and dissemination of leaflet. Grievance Redresses Committees (GRCE) have been formally established and briefing was provided to the members on the GRM and the APS were sensitized on how to formulate their grievance during the consultation.

4.2 Formation of Grievance Redress Committee

31. Some of the grievances may be solved by RDMRDI within the accepted policies and the legal framework and some can be solved at the field level informally with proper consultation and participatory engagement with the APs. The Roads Department has a centralized grievance redress mechanism. However, there may be certain grievances that are more complex and cannot be solved informally. To solve such grievances, GRCE has been established at the project level to examine and find solutions to the grievances in a most transparent manner to convince the people that their grievances are well examined. GRCE have been established at Municipality level (one at Kharagauli Municipality and one at Khashuri municipality). The structure and names of the representatives of the GRCE are provided in Table below: Table 4.1 Grievance Redress Committee Grievance Redress # Committee Position Name of the Representative of GRCE and Member Contact Details 1 Representative Member Name: Mr. Archil Jorbenadze GRCN of RDMRDI Designation: Coordinator of ADB projects (ETCIC, MRDI)

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Grievance Redress # Committee Position Name of the Representative of GRCE and Tel: 591403038 Email: [email protected] Representative of 2 Resettlement Convenor Mr. Shota Batsikadze Division at RD Designation: Project Manager of the Resettlement Division (RDMRDI) Tel: 577613302 Email: [email protected]

Representatives of 3 Kharagauli Member Secretary Mr. Jaba Beridze Municipality: Tel: 558785455 Had of Economic Development Division 4 Representatives of Khasuri Member Secretary Mr. Teimuraz Lomuashvili Municipality: Tel: 599770372 Had of Supervision Division 5 Moliti Village 5-i Representative of Mayor in Member Mr. Spartak Lacabidze the Moliti administrative unit Tel: 596117058 5-ii Representative of APs Member Mr. David Lezhava Tel: 577036189 Representative of Women 5.iii APs Member Ms. Maka Talakhadze Tel: 577036189 6 Tsipa /Pona Village 6-i Representative of Mayor in Member Mr. Besik Talakhadze the Tsipa administrative unit Tel: 598523400 Representative of APs of 6-ii Tsipa village Member Mr. Vefkhia Beridze Tel: 557 65 46 11 Representative of Women 6-iii APs of Member Ms. Rusudan Gurgenidze Tsipa village Tel: 553 52 38 57 6-iv Representative of APs Member Mr. Emzari Nozadze of Pona village Tel: 571 197124 Representative of Women 6-iv APs of Pona village Member Ms. Meri Nozadze Tel: 595 327 370 7 Chumateleti Village Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Grievance Redress # Committee Position Name of the Representative of GRCE and Representative of the Mayor 7-i in Surami administrative unit Member Mr. Valeri Chaduneli Tel: 599112984 7-ii Representative of APs of Member Mr. Zurab Korkotadze Chumateleti Village Tel: - 599345917 Representative of Women 7-iii APs of Member Ms. Daria Korkotadze Chumateleti Village Tel: 599345917

32. Representative of the Resettlement Division of IA is coordinating the work of the Committee and at the same time he/she is nominated as a contact person for collecting the grievances and handling grievance log. The local authorities at the municipal level, civil works Contractor, Supervising Company (Engineer), as well as APs (through informal meetings) are informed about the contact person and his contact details are available in offices of all mentioned stakeholders. 33. The Contact Person collects and records the grievances, informs all members of the Committee and the management of RD regarding the essence of the problem, engages the relevant stakeholders in discussions with the applicant of grievance, handles the process of negotiation with AP at the stage 1 of the grievance resolution. The Contact Person prepares the minutes of meetings and ensures signatures. In case the grievance is resolved at the stage 1, the Contact Person records the fact of closing the grievance in his log and informs RDMRDI management about this in written. If the complainants are not satisfied with the GRC decisions, they can always use the procedures of Stage 2 of grievance resolution process. In that case the Contact Person helps the AP in lodging an official complaint (the plaintiff should be informed of his/her rights and obligations, rules and procedures of making a complaint, format of complaint, terms of complaint submission, etc.). 34. The APs should be informed about the available GRM. This could be achieved through implementing information campaigns, distributing brochures (e.g. Communication Plan), Keeping all focal points up-to-date & maintaining regular communication with them, allowing multiple entry points for complaints , introducing forms for ease of reporting complaints.

Table 4.2 Grievance Redress Process

Steps Process

Step 1 At the negotiation level, if any grievances arise, solutions acceptable to both local’s LAR Team and the APs will be sought. If any aggrieved AP is not satisfied with the solutions, the next option will be to lodge grievances to the GRC.

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Step 2 • If the grievance is not solved at the previous level, the rayon level LAR representative will assist the aggrieved APs to formally lodge the grievances with the respective GRCE at Rayon level. The aggrieved APs will lodge the complaint if there is failure of negotiation at village level and produce documents supporting his/her claim. • The GRCE member secretary will review the complaint and prepare a Case File for GRCE hearing and resolution. A formal hearing will be held with the GRCE at a date fixed by the GRCE member secretary in consultation with Convenor and the aggrieved APs. • On the date of hearing, the aggrieved AP will appear before the GRCE at the village office and produce evidence in support of his/her claim. The member secretary will note down the statements of the complainant and document all proof. • The decisions will be issued by the Convenor and signed by other members of the GRCE. The case record will be communicated to the complainant AP by the LAR Team at the village level. The grievance redress at this stage shall be completed within 4 weeks

Step 3 If any aggrieved AP is unsatisfied with the GRCE decision at Rayon level, the next option will be to lodge grievances to the Grievance Redress Commission (GRCN) at the Resettlement Division at RDMRDI at the national level within 2 weeks after receiving the decision from GRCE. The complainants, must produce documents supporting his/her claim. The GRCN will review the GRCE hearing records and convey its decisions to the aggrieved APs within 4 weeks after receiving the complaint.

Step 4 If a grievance redress system fail to satisfy the aggrieved APs, they can pursue further action by submitting their case to the appropriate court of law (Local Court).In case, if the ruling by the court is below the market price assessed through the open market survey earlier, RDMRDI will provide additional funds to ensure that compensation provided reflects full replacement cost.

4.3. Issues Identified during Construction at Project Area

35. During ongoing road construction, some issues & concerns were reported by the local residents relating damage/threats to their houses, tree cutting, using land beyond acquisition boarder, excess noise & vibration, dust pollution etc. These issues were verified with necessary discussions with the concerned house/plot owners. Among concerns/issues found true, contractor has been advised to take necessary mitigation measure for proper solution of such problems with negotiation with the concerned parties & paying compensation, as necessary. If not under the Jurisdiction of Contractor, those cases to be referred to RD for timely & proper mitigations. In total, as of the reporting period. In total, 28 cases were recorded, of which 20 are resolved/closed and 8 are still ongoing. Summary of cases is presented in table 4.3 below.

Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Table 4.3 Status of complaints/Issues as of the reporting period Number of Complaint Category Status complaints

PYUNGHWA Compliant Log

Crop Compensation 1 Closed-1, open-0

Damage to Infrastructure / Assets 19 Closed-17, open-2

Other 2 Closed-1, open-1

Sub-total 22 Closed-19, open-3

RD Compliant log

Damage to Infrastructure / Assets 4 Closed-1, open-3

Disturbance: Noise / Vibration / Dust 1 Closed-0, open-1

Other 1 Closed -0, open-1

Sub-total 6 Closed- 1, open-5

Total 28 Closed- 20, open-8

5 MAINTAINING CORE LABOR STANDARD

5.1 OTHER COMPLIANCE ISSUES

36.According to the monthly report (June 2020) of the Contractor as of the reporting date 155 people have been employed, of which no APs are employed.:

Table 5-1. Black Sea Group Ltd Section 1 covering Km 0.000 to Km 24.620 N Month Employee Georgian Female

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

1 January 143.00 63.00 2.00

2 February 139.00 60.00 2.00

3 March 180.00 80.00 2.00

4 April 120.00 39.00 2.00

5 May 151.00 48.00 2.00

6 June 155.00 52.00 2.00

Table 5-2. Akkord Industry Construction Investment Corporation OJSC Section 2 N Month Emloyee Georgian Female 1 January 54.00 27.00 3.00 2 February 50.00 25.00 3.00 3 March 52.00 28.00 3.00 4 May 43.00 26.00 3.00 5 April 45.00 28.00 3.00 6 June 55.00 30.00 3.00

5.2 Child Labor in the Project Activities

37. During field monitoring period, no child labor (below the age of 18 years) were found engaged in the project works.

5.3 Forced or Compulsory Labor

38. All workers are deployed according to their eligibility and willingness. The female workers who are mostly engaged in cooking and cleaning are also deployed based on their eligibility and willingness. 5.4 Discrimination in Respect to Employment

39. During monitoring, no discrimination identified among the workers in terms of gender, locality, nation or religion, wages/salary

5.5 Health and Safety and HIV/AIDS Awareness Program

40. The current monitoring also found that the Contractor has arranged a medical office and employed Doctors for the treatments of the staffs/employees of the contractor Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

41. The Contractor has appointed an accident prevention officer at the Site, who is responsible for maintaining safety and protection against accidents. He was found available on site every day. 42. During reporting period, the Contractor’s doctor provided information for the workers about HIV/AIDS and Sexually transmitted diseases and the information campaign program as well. Furthermore, Contractor’s HSE specialist organized trainings of worker on various issues, such as: use of personal protective equipment, fire emergency, driving safety and first aid. 5.6 Accident Record Log

43. No physical injuries or incidents were registered during this period on Dzirula – Kharagauli – Moliti – Pona – Chumateleti Secondary Road Section.

6 SAFEGUARDS COMPLIANCE STATUS

6.1 Status of Recruitment/Mobilization of Safeguard Team

44. CSC Consultant mobilized 1 safeguard Specialist He is currently continuing their works and is assisting/supporting RDMRDI with constant monitoring, in connection to resettlement program implementation with other social safeguards issues of the project. The RDMRDI established a Resettlement Division & Resettlement Unit at the PIU level with requisite officers & staffs from beginning of the project to carry out & support to implement resettlement & rehabilitation of APs and other safeguards issues of the project covering total project implementation periods. 6.2 Project Social Safeguard Performance

45. From the beginning of the project implementation to till the current reporting period, ‘PIU’s RU team are working. Since, mobilization of CSC consultant’s Experts are working on social/resettlement safeguards issues. Both the PIU & CSC experts are conducting required survey/investigations at the project site with necessary consultation with the stakeholders including beneficiary and affected people of the subproject with monitoring considering social safeguard issues. As of the reporting period, all the APs have been paid their due compensation with proper resettlement & rehabilitations for the partial road sections and already handed over to the contractor. The contractors are carrying out physical construction on those sections of the road. The remaining road sections currently under implementation of LARP through paying compensation to the APs. CSC’s Resettlement Specialists are constantly monitoring resettlement

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

& social safeguards issues, accordingly, they are preparing & submitting monthly, quarterly & Biannual monitoring reports to RDMRDI/PIU regularly.

6.3 6.3 Design changes and associated LAR issues

46.There were not any design changes during the reporting period.

7 CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS

47. The Kharagauli Secondary Road Improvement Project implementation is ongoing, where resettlement & safeguards compliance is an important and highly valued aspect. The project’s social safeguard involvement started from the feasibility study through conducting necessary census and survey of the project affected people to prepare LARP. Subsequently, LARPs were finalized/updated based on the detailed design covering resettlement and social safeguard issues. A total of two LARPs were prepared for the project, harmonizing ADB’s SPS 2009 and GOG policy standards for the land acquisition and resettlement of the APs. The LARPs in due course, was approved. The LARPs implementation program started by RDMRDI, since 2017. The implementation of LARPs and project conditionality is complying with provisions to monitor both internally & externally of the entire resettlement implementation. In this connection, LARPs implementation compliance monitoring was conducted and prepared three CRs for the implementation completed parts of the road. And this is the Semi-Annual Social Monitoring Report (covering the period of January – June 2020) prepared by the CSC for RDMRDI by the CSC’s International Resettlement Specialist. Meantime, monthly progress monitoring report are regularly producing and submitting by the NRS since August 2018.

48. In sum, it may be concluded that the RDMRDI teams working hard to make payment (compensation and other additional grants and benefits) to the APs timely with mitigation of grievances. Till date, the LARP implementation for the partial sections comprises almost of the road ROW completed with required relocation of affected households before handed over to the contractor for construction. It was revealed from the monitoring of LARPs implementation, substantial progress in connection to LARP implementation has been done in compliance to the ADB & project policy. See also Annex 1 for some photo record of safeguards monitoring works during the reporting period. Actions for the next reporting period: 49. It may be mentioned that a small portion (xx km, section 2) of remaining road alignments still under implementation. It is expected that implementation for this portion, will also be completed for the next reporting period. . Once implementation complete, EMC will conduct their compliance monitoring activities and is expected to submit their report as soon. Hopefully, the next Semi- annual Report, which will be due the next January 2021 will cover total picture of the LARP implementation status.

Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

ANNEX1. PHOTORECORD OF MEETIGNS AND CONSULTATIONS WITH THE LOCAL RESIDENTS

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

VILLAGE DZIRULA

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

VILLAGE SAGANDZILE

Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

ANNEX 2. LIST OF PROBLEMATIC CASES IN CR 3 (RAILWAY PROBLEMATIC ISSUES)

Plot Name of the Type of Affec Cost Compe Compe Com Compensati Com Allow Allo Allowa Total No Village Ownershi ted of 1 nsation nsation pens on for pen ance wan nces Compe p Area sqm for lost for ation Affected sati s for ce for nsation (sqm) land Land Trees for Building on Vulne for Severe (Gel) (Gel) (Gel) Crop and for rable Phy ly s Structures Busi AHs sical Affect (Gel) ness (Gel) relo ed Los cati AHs s on (Gel) (Gel) 38 Kharagauli acquired 25 7 174 870 0 1956 0 3000

40 Kharagauli acquired 25 10 250 0 0 0 0 1042 1292

41 Kharagauli acquired 22 7 151 293 0 7110 0 1042 1042 9638

42 Kharagauli acquired 31 7 217 50 0 72 0 339 43 Kharagauli acquired 131 7 916 50 0 58305 0 1292 1042 61605 44 Kharagauli acquired 101 10 1010 250 0 32506 0 1292 1042 36100 45 Kharagauli acquired 8 7 56 0 0 1261 0 1317 46 Kharagauli acquired 1042 273 7 1912 5090 0 3720 0 11764 47 Sagandzile The co- owners 59 5 296 200 23 388 0 907 have to be clarified 48 Sagandzile acquired 269 0 0 755 0 1515 0 1042 3312

49 Sagandzile RAILWAY 9830 The drawing is registered 251 4 1004 2780 0 6046 0 in the public register 50 Sagandzile acquired 380 5 1900 7026 0 30827 0 1042 40795 51 Sagandzile acquired 145 5 726 1908 6 0 0 2640 52 Sagandzile RAILWAY 1042 3807 Proceedin gs are underway at the 119 4 477 690 0 1598 0 National Agency of Public Registry 53 Sagandzile acquired 1042 1404 72 5 362 0 0 0 0

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Semi-Annual Monitoring Report (January-June 2020): Secondary Road Improvement Project

53.1 Sagandzile State 1042 5409 108 4 432 2083 0 1852 0 owned 54 Sagandzile acquired 203 5 1015 1940 0 4056 0 1042 8053 55 Sagandzile acquired 91 5 456 1860 0 6785 0 9101 56 Sagandzile acquired 164 0 0 400 0 0 0 400

57 Sagandzile acquired 40 5 199 1349 0 5765 0 1042 8355

58 Sagandzile acquired 122 5 610 1320 0 30440 0 32370

59 Sagandzile The co- 773 owners 21 4 85 0 0 688 0 have to be clarified 60 Sagandzile acquired 17 4 68 0 0 138 0 206 60.1 Sagandzile The co- 46 owners 11 4 46 0 0 0 0 have to be clarified 61 Sagandzile acquired 795 19 4 77 400 0 318 0

62 Sagandzile They have 3875 an 369 4 1474 110 63 1186 0 1042 inheritanc e to do 63 Sagandzile acquired 1042 3460 264 4 1055 220 42 1101 0

63.1 Sagandzile RAILWAY 234 0 0 1350 0 0 0 1042 2392

63.2 Sagandzile RAILWAY 264 0 0 250 0 0 0 1042 1042 2334

63.3 Sagandzile acquired 3980 326 0 0 3980 0 0 0

64 Sagandzile The co- 1042 3483 owners 26 4 103 1532 0 806 0 have to be clarified 65 Sagandzile acquired 1560 25 4 101 675 0 784 0

67 Sagandzile 4018 158 4 630 575 17 712 0 1042 1042 acquired 15802 38006 151 199935 0 7294 2584 14588 278360